Saudi Arabia: Insurers warned over rejecting mentally ill patients
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | May 2017
The Council of Cooperative Health Insurance (CCHI) has warned that it would punish health insurers which refuse to cooperate in providing coverage to psychiatric patients in private clinics.
The CCHI warned that it would suspend the operations of non-compliant insurers or revoke their licences.
The number of people with mental health issues or depression is increasing in Saudi Arabia due to urbanisation, marital or relationship problems, and not being able to keep up with rapid progress, according to a report last year by Arab News.
According to the World Health Organization, mental health issues could be a major cause of death and disability by 2020. A study found that the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, has a very high rate of major depression compared with the rest of the world, almost 7%. M